Scottish FA to present at Baltimore convention

Thursday 29 October 2015

The Scottish FA have been invited to Baltimore this January to present in front of over 5,000 coaches from across North America.

Director of Football Development, Jim Fleeting and Head of Coach Education Donald Park will talk to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America convention about techniques used in the highly regarded Scottish FA coach education courses and explore the ‘Journey of the Scottish coach’.

Billed as "The World's Largest Annual Gathering of Soccer Coaches," each year the NSCAA Convention draws over 5,000 coaches from membership of 32,000+ coaches, and more than 10,500 attendees over five days for live practical and lecture sessions.

Jim Fleeting – who was present at year’s event in Philadelphia - says he was only too happy to accept the NSCAA’s invite: “We are delighted to be asked to deliver at the conference next year.

"We attended as spectators only in Philadelphia in 2015 and the buzz around the place from coaches learning new things and connecting with people from across the whole world was exceptional.

“Donald and I are very much looking forward to getting in front of the audience and hopefully providing some more learning materials for the guys”.

Football Development Manager, Donald Gillies will also attend with Jim and Donald Park and will offer help to Scottish coaches already working in North America. Donald said: “We have been in contact with over 200 coaches with Scottish qualifications or Scottish heritage who are working in various roles in the game across the US and Canada. We very much want to continue our dialogue with them to offer support in their learning and maintain that link with Scotland.

“People like former Aberdeen Goalkeeper, Bobby Clark who has won a National title with Notre Dame University Soccer Team and former Women’s National Team player and coach Angie Hind now at Old Dominion University in Virginia are fantastic ambassadors for Scotland in their roles.

“They have done so much for the players and coaches that they have worked and come into contact with and we hope by attending the convention we can do likewise”.

The Convention will take place from Jan 13th to 17th 2016 in Baltimore, Maryland.